Thirty-six investors representing over US$947 billion have collectively called on companies and governments to urgently address instances of violence and harassment across global supply chains. Signatories – including Storebrand Asset Management and Scottish Widows – pointed to the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) global survey, which has estimated that at least one in five people have experienced violence and harassment at work. The ILO’s Convention on Violence and Harassment (C190) includes specific recognition of the right of everyone to a world of work that is free from violence and harassment, setting out the obligation to respect, promote and realise this right, the statement said. The group of financial institutions has asked companies and governments to translate the goals of this convention into a reality, noting that it has so far only been ratified by 45 countries. “Failing to address this risk has significant costs for companies, countries, communities and individuals,” the statement said. For example, the ILO study found that sexual harassment and violence can lead to economic losses of 1-3.5% of national gross domestic product. “As investors representing over US$947 billion in assets under management, we recognise the critical role of the private sector in the effective implementation of ILO C190,” the group said. “We also urge governments to ratify C190 to prevent and end all forms of violence and harassment at work. Universal ratification will create safer and more equitable workplaces, benefiting society as a whole.” The investor statement is linked to the World Benchmarking Alliance’s Collective Impact Coalition on Violence and Harassment.
Sustainable Investor
News in Brief
UK pension fund Nest has acquired a 10% ownership stake in global institutional asset manager IFM Investors. In a joint press release, the companies said that the new investment will help strengthen IFM’s infrastructure, debt and private equity capabilities, with a key focus on new opportunities in the UK. At the same time, the strategic partnership will support Nest’s ambition to diversify and increase its allocations to private market assets to 30%. Commenting on the announcement, Mark Fawcett, CEO of Nest Invest, said: “We’re excited to leverage IFM’s expertise and scale to unlock more private market opportunities that can drive stronger and more impactful returns for our members.” David Neal, IFM Investor’s Chief Executive, added: “Nest will support IFM’s further expansion into new investment opportunities and markets across the globe, bringing UK expertise into IFM’s ownership group, as we seek to give pension fund members greater access to global markets that have the potential to deliver risk-adjusted returns for their retirement.” With over 13.7 million members, Nest is now the largest workplace pension scheme in the UK, safeguarding over £48 billion (US$60 billion) assets on members’ behalf. IFM Investors is owned by Australian pension funds and over the past 30 years has grown to A$230 billion (US$144.3 billion) assets under management (as of 31 December 2024).
The UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published the final report from its market study on the assurance of sustainability reporting. Feedback filed last year revealed that the UK’s assurance market is perceived as “functioning well”, but there are concerns over maintaining consistency in quality as demand grows, the FRC said. As such, the final report has outlined key actions to support the market’s development. These include establishing a clear UK policy framework for sustainability assurance to give medium-term certainty to providers and reporters, creating a regulatory regime that consolidates standard setting, and improving the calibre of available information for the market. “This report provides us with a clearer picture of the UK’s rapidly developing sustainability assurance market which companies, assurance providers and investors are currently navigating, as reporting expectations continue to develop in this important space,” said Mark Babington, the FRC’s Executive Director of Regulatory Standards. “The findings provide a baseline understanding, that we will continue to build on, so we are best placed to support our stakeholders in this market as demand continues to grow.”
Sustainability technology provider Clarity AI has launched a new tool to help fund managers, portfolio managers, and ESG analysts navigate the “growing complexity” of regulatory and labelling requirements for European sustainable investment funds. The solution aims to address the challenges of monitoring funds across “complex metrics and frameworks” by combining the information on relevant regulations into a single screen for users. “The goal is to reduce the amount of time fund managers spend on identifying potential investments that fall short of the standards, and understanding the cause for non-compliance, in order to decide on the best course of action,” said Henry Waind, Product Lead at Clarity AI. Clarity AI’s tool initially supports fund managers with the German FNG and the UK’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements Labels. It will soon expand to also cover other labels, such as France’s Socially Responsible Investment label and Belgium’s Towards Sustainability label. The solution also assists screening for the Paris-Aligned Benchmark and Climate Transition Benchmark exclusions for the European Securities and Markets Authority’s Naming Rules. “Sustainability regulations and labels are proliferating, making it increasingly challenging for fund managers to keep up,” said Tom Willman, Regulatory Lead at Clarity AI. “A significant amount of resources is tied up in regulatory obligations. These could be better used to develop sustainable solutions that support end-investors’ sustainability goals, and technology is key to making this process more efficient.”
Zeeshan Ghaffar has joined AustralianSuper as Associate Director, ESG & Stewardship, based in the superannuation fund’s London office. He was previously Technical Specialist within the Sustainable Finance Division of the Financial Conduct Authority, where he joined as a graduate trainee in 2016. Ghaffar also spent six months on secondment at Fidelity International, according to his LinkedIn profile. In a LinkedIn post, Ghaffar said he was “really looking forward to a new challenge in 2025 – contributing to AustralianSuper’s great work in this space and deepening [his] knowledge of the investor perspective”. According to the latest data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, AustralianSuper manages AU$355 billion ($220 billion) of retirement savings on behalf of over 3.4 million members AustralianSuper is a signatory of the Australian Asset Owner Stewardship Code and says that it places ESG principles and stewardship at the centre of its investment strategy. According to its website, the Australian superannuation fund prioritises those ESG issues which it believes will “have the greatest financial impact on members’ investment returns”. AustralianSuper’s ESG and Stewardship department is run by Deborah Gilshan, who has been at the helm since July 2023.
British insurer and asset manager Legal & General (L&G) has raised £510 million (US$633.7 million) for its affordable housing investment strategy as part of the second close of its Affordable Housing Fund. L&G said the Affordable Housing Fund, which is focused on addressing the UK’s housing crisis, has “attracted strong investor interest” since its July 2024 launch. The fund’s new investors include London CIV, the entity that manages London Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) assets, which has invested £100 million, alongside social impact investor Better Society Capital. In addition, ACCESS Pool, an LGPS collaboration of Central, Eastern and Southern Shires, has invested a further £20 million in addition to a previous allocation in 2024. The funds raised to date are expected to deliver up to 4,000 homes. Besides completing a second close of the fund, L&G has seeded the fund with a portfolio of 514 homes, and has exchanged contracts on three funding opportunities to bring forward more affordable housing development. Based on the fund’s current pipeline, L&G expects to have over 1,000 homes either operational or under construction by Q2 2025. “The level of interest we have seen in this Fund since its inception last year is a testament to the attractive proposition that investors see in contributing to much-needed affordable housing in the UK, while seeking to invest in steady inflation-linked returns and positive social impact,” said Ali Farrell, Fund Manager at L&G. “I am pleased to welcome our new partners as we leverage our sector-leading platform to execute our strategy and deliver high quality housing in areas of acute need.”
BankInvest, a Danish asset manager, has appointed EOS at Federated Hermes to provide engagement and voting services across its equity and fixed income portfolio of US$15.3 billion. EOS will enhance BankInvest’s responsible investment approach to its client base in and outside of Denmark, scaling its engagement capabilities and voting framework. “Federated Hermes has been a trusted presence in the Nordic market for over a decade,” said Christine Bergstedt Jorgensen, Director for Business Development, Nordics, at Federated Hermes. “Our leading stewardship credentials have earned the confidence of numerous financial institutions and asset owners. Leveraging the influence of our US$2.1 trillion asset base, we look forward to bringing our active ownership expertise to our partnership with BankInvest to responsibly create lasting value for their clients.” EOS now represents a portfolio of US$184 billion across local government and private pension services providers and institutional investors across the Nordic region. “Active asset management is the foundation of BankInvest’s investment approach,” said Jakob Møller Petersen, BankInvest’s Chief Sustainability Officer. “We see dialogue as an important part of understanding the opportunities and risks facing the companies we invest in. To strengthen our active ownership and further promote long-term value creation, we have decided to complement our individual engagements by entering a partnership with EOS. With this, we hope to expand our engagement reach and influence, while ensuring even stronger alignment between our voting and engagement objectives.”
UK consultancy Broadstone has partnered with technology provider Ortec Finance to integrate climate scenario modelling into its ESG advisory capabilities for asset owners. In a press release, Broadstone said that this would allow clients to gain a better insight into the impact that climate change could have on their investment portfolios. “Climate change has the potential to cause significant economic disruption and asset owners will need to assess the financial impact from potential economic scenarios, and their impact on the environment,” said Deon Dreyer, Investment Director at Broadstone. Maurits van Joolingen, Managing Director, Climate Scenarios & Sustainability at Ortec Finance, added: “We are excited to be working with Broadstone to help their clients better understand the financial impacts of climate change under a range of plausible futures, while also enabling them to manage associated risks and identify opportunities.” Broadstone supports a wide range of asset owners, including life insurers, non-life insurers, defined benefit pension schemes and defined contribution pension schemes and banks. It also offers services to banks and asset managers.
Independent asset manager Allspring Global Investments has introduced two climate transition-focused sub-funds, further expanding the firm’s existing climate transition fixed income suite. The Climate Transition Buy and Maintain Plus 2025-2029 Fund and the Climate Transition Buy and Maintain Plus 2030-2034 Fund apply a climate transition approach to help clients achieve their net-zero ambition while delivering on their financial objectives. The funds also integrate ESG criteria to meet wider responsible investing commitments. The funds are registered for distribution in the UK for institutional investors and have been backed by £100 million (US$123.5 million) of seed capital from global professional services company Aon’s clients. Allspring described the two new maturing funds as a “natural extension” of its Climate Transition Global Buy and Maintain Fund, which was launched in 2023. The asset manager said the new funds will help clients meet their cash flow needs. “Combining our proprietary Climate Transition Framework with our global credit capabilities to create our new Climate Transition Buy and Maintain Plus Funds with Aon’s support is the next logical step in the evolution of our climate transition product suite,” said Alex Temple, Senior Portfolio Manager at Allspring. “Together with Aon, our goal is to help clients meet their financial, risk and climate goals. Although these new funds are maturing in nature, we apply the same philosophy and investment approach to finance transition leaders as they target net zero as we do in our evergreen funds, with a focus on delivering the predictable cash flows that investors need to meet their liabilities”. Allspring has more than £483 billion in assets under advisement and manages more than £4 billion of global fixed income products, including its climate transition fixed income suite.
The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) has announced it will be pausing work relating to recent consultations on nature-focused transition plans and transition-oriented index investing. This follows GFANZ’s decision to shift its focus to addressing the barriers to mobilising capital at the scale and speed required to support the transition. “As part of this shift, GFANZ has paused work related to its consultations in other areas such as nature in net-zero transition planning and index investing,” the body said in a statement. “GFANZ remains steadfast in its commitment to supporting financial institutions worldwide in addressing the challenges and seizing the opportunities of this pivotal moment.” There has also been mounting pressure on collaborative climate action groups from the anti-ESG movement in the US. “This [restructure] will help strengthen growth, create jobs, and close the investment gap, especially in emerging markets and developing countries,” GFANZ said. “Without private finance, there can be no global energy transition.” Launched in April 2021, GFANZ serves as an umbrella body for net zero alliances. It currently has more than 500 members.
